GT & Sports Car Cup Race Report: Thruxton Retro 2025
Photos: Charlie Brenninkmeijer (@charlieb.photography)
GTSCC - Thruxton Retro
Thruxton - 21st June, 2025
Thistlethwayte hits first home run
Alex Thistlethwayte was master of all he surveyed at Thruxton on June 21, the circuit owner winning his first GT & Sports Car Cup race in memorable style in his own playground, with top help from Murray Shepherd. Alex’s AC Cobra is no stranger to victory circle of course - it’s the most successful car in the prestigious invitation series’ history having won no fewer than 13 rounds since Monza in 2010 in the hands of previous owner Leo Voyazides and preparer Simon Hadfield. But on home soil this success was particularly sweet for Alex, Murray - like father Andy, uncle Bill and cousin Fred with a Scouts’ snake charming badge on his CV - and the Alan Mann Racing team under crew chief Lee Lapihuska.
For the first third of the 90-minute race - centrepiece of the BARC’s renamed Thruxton Retro event over the Summer Solstice weekend - Chris Chiles sowed the seeds of a repeat of last month’s Silverstone win with father Chris Sr, but contact with Nick Sleep’s Shelby Mustang GT350 at the Campbell-Cobb-Segrave complex while leading altered the game plan. Half of Senior’s middle stint was run behind a safety car - for the Shelby and Simon King’s Morgan (parked on the greensward adjacent to the timing stripe) to be repatriated to the paddock - before Junior clambered back in. Shepherd was equal to the challenge, however, and while Chiles more than matched his lap times the black Cobra was 50 seconds ahead at the chequered flag.
Ollie Crosthwaite, back in the ex-Jackie Epstein 1963 Targa Florio Cooper T49 Monaco shared with Nick Finburgh - whose sister car they debuted at Silverstone - only surrendered second to the Chiles equipe four laps from home after a fine run. The sportscar’s two-litre Climax FPF twin-cam engine was slightly blunted by a top end misfire, but the duo drove superbly to remain on the lead lap.
Jaguar E-types filled the next three places, just eight seconds apart after 53 gruelling laps of the 2.356-mile circuit, the UK’s fastest! Soloist Alistair Dyson weathered searing heat to stave off Mark Burton - bookending Jason Minshaw’s stints in Martin Melling’s low-drag coupe - who passed John Clark 10 laps from home. Inspired by co-driver Ben Mitchell, who ran as high as third during the second pit stop phase, Clarky was in Burton’s slipstream as they accelerated flat out from the final chicane to the chequer.
Seventh over the line, leading the GT3 division, was the Austin-Healey 3000 of Alexander Hewitson/Jack Rawles, but a 40 second penalty for exceeding the maximum permitted stint time, cost them gold, advantaging long-time leader Bruce Montgomery in a similar car. “We tried to make both pit stops under the safety car. Alex’s [second] in-lap was a bit quicker than expected when it waved cars past, so we miscalculated. We need a stopwatch for Christmas,” rued fast finisher Rawles. Penalties were also accrued by Crosthwaite/Finburgh (20s), Dyson (60s) and 13th placed Chris Drake/Nic Carlton-Smith (Lotus Elan 26R, 60s) for varying overstays, but none altered finishing positions.
The GT2 battle saw Murray Shepherd, on double duty, establish an early lead in Simon Drabble’s MGB, an advantage he maintained until the first round of stops. Malcolm Paul kept his TVR Grantura in contention before relaying Rick Bourne, who overtook Drabble on lap 32 and broke into the top 10 soon afterwards. Thereafter, ‘Trevor’ [nicknamed for TVR founder Wilkinson] pulled a lap’s lead over the MG, chased by the sister car of Nick and Chris Thompson prior to its retirement.
Matt Green and Alice Locke drove the Broadspeed GTS brilliantly, running ahead of Alice’s dad Richard’s Sebring veteran Healey, also shared by Matt, throughout. The little Mini-based coupe ran like clockwork to a sensational 12th overall, performances for which Beaudouin Jager of Baltic Watches awarded them the pair of beautiful timepieces as Drivers of the Day.
Third in GT2, the evergreen Barbara and Brian Lambert won the Royal Automobile Club Family accolade to huge applause from fellow racers at the prizegiving in our hospitality suite. Situated on the first floor of the Thruxton Centre, on the inside of Allard corner, with its own balcony, it offered cool accommodation for competitors, teams and guests, with catering sponsored by Automobiles Historiques, and a commanding overview of the track action.
QUALIFYING:
Three weeks after Silverstone, the GTSCC entourage set up at Thruxton, west of Andover, home to the British Automobile Racing Club. Rooted at Brooklands pre-WW2, the organisation prepared the venue and opened the perimeter circuit in March 1968, as successor to Goodwood, where it had run race meetings from September 1948 until its closure in July 1966. Fun fact: With limited opportunities to test sonorous race cars at Thruxton, F1 teams to club racers continued to use the fractionally longer 2.4-mile Goodwood during its fallow years to 1998, when Lord March [now the Duke of Richmond & Gordon] established the fabled venue’s modern era with the inaugural Revival Meeting. Times at both tracks remain within tenths of a second in any car…
Our programme was packed into one day, with a 40-minute qualifying session mid-morning to define the grid. Our only previous visit was in 2020, where Mark Holme and Jeremy Welch bagged a remarkable victory for a GT3 car - the Healey SMO 746 last raced there in 1971 by John Gott. Among many new drivers to the circuit - with its high-speed sweepers punctuated by the right-left-right Campbell-Cobb-Segrave presaging the run out into the country and the Club chicane filtering cars out on the sprint past the pits - was Chris Chiles the younger. Father Chris hadn’t raced here for 20 years, thus they both did sighting sessions with resident race school instructors a week beforehand.
Junior duly planted their CRC Cobra on pole position, his 1m29.986s (94.25mph) charge erasing Nick Finburgh’s mark in Ollie Crosthwaite’s Cooper by 0.401s. Murray Shepherd’s final shot in Alex Thistlethwayte’s Cobra was but 0.127s shy of the rear-engined sportscar, thus barely half a second split the top three. Ben Mitchell in John Clark’s glorious dark blue E-type roadster and Jason Minshaw in the MRM coupe both recorded ‘31s.’ They headed-off Peter Thompson and Jon Payne - a Spa Six Hour regular in the stunning Triumph SLR replica shared with Brian White - in the former’s Steve Mace-run Cobra.
Row four comprised both Lotus Elans, Steve Jones and Classic Formula Ford champion Ben Tinkler’s 1:33.726 a scant 0.045s beyond Historic Formula Junior champs Chris Drake and Nic Carlton-Smith’s. The leading pair of Healeys were but 0.188s apart on row five, Jeremy Welch in Swede Nils-Fredrik Nyblaeus’ example snaring GT3 pole with a 1:34.031 (90.20mph) on his first flying lap! Bruce Montgomery took the session to acclimatise but came close to matching the 3000 maestro. Also in the 34s was Alistair Dyson, without the services of GT-turned BTCC racer James Dorlin who anchored them to second at Silverstone.
Twelfth, third in GT3, was Alex Hewitson’s Sebring replica Healey 729 FAC, shared by marque expert Jack Rawles whose family emporium is based 30 miles away at Alton on the opposite side of Hampshire. They narrowly outran David Smithies/Chris Clarkson, shaking down David’s AC Cobra Daytona Coupe, shunted in last September’s Spa Six Hours and freshly rebuilt for its next assault on the Belgian classic, and the Shelby Mustang of Nick Sleep/Alex Montgomery. The trio were all in the 35s. The 1964 Ford France Tour de France tribute liveried Cobra arrived untested, but rocker issues in the 289ci V8 caused angst.
Next up, 15th overall, was Malcolm Paul’s 1800cc BMC-engined TVR Grantura Mk3, which Rick Bourne hurtled round in 1:36.654 (87.75mph) to head the GT2 posse. Richard Locke/Matt Green’s ex-works GT3 Healey 767 KNX came between them and rivals Simon Drabble/Murray Shepherd in local man Simon’s MG B. Soloist Mark ‘Pangio’ Pangborn’s borrowed #58 Healey completed the row.
Oliver Marçais planted Sir David Scholey’s Jaguar XK120, co-driven by Dorset XK ace Rob Newall, 19th with dad and lad Nick and Chris Thompson’s MG B and the diminutive ex-works/John Fitzpatrick Broadspeed GTS of Alice Locke/Matt Green on the Jag’s shapely tail. BMC A-series engine singing, they snared TC1 pole with 1:38.700 (85.93mph). Mr and Mrs Lambert’s MGB was also inside 1m40s.
The 26-strong grid was rounded out by Andrew McAlpine’s Lotus 11 - similar to Doug Muirhead’s which he brought out at Silverstone - the Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports of Simon King/Will Plant and Sharlie Goddard/Graeme Smith, all within a quarter of a second, and Ellie Birchenhough’s Cooper S ‘PIXIE,’ shared with versatile ERA pedaller Nick Topliss as usual.
RACE:
The race started at 14:48 with the summer sun’s heat tempered by a blustery south westerly wind, which greeted racers head-on each time they charged out of the hairy fast Church corner - with its off-camber downhill approach - and up Woodham Hill to the chicane. Chiles outdragged Thistlethwayte at the lights and, treaded Dunlop tyres writhing as they came up to temperature, crafted a lead of 0.66s in the course of the opening lap. Crosthwaite’s 500kg Cooper ran third, but the most eye-catching getaway was Dyson’s. Alistair launched his bottle green Jaguar hard, howling through from 11th to fourth, ahead of Thompson’s silver Cobra and Clark.
Montgomery’s red Healey was up from 10th to seventh, ahead of a Burton, Hewitson and Jones in the first Elan, Sleep’s rampant Shelby Mustang and Smithies in the Cobra coupe. Shepherd made a good start, taking Drabble’s MG B past four cars to set the GT2 pace in an early 13th, having put Drake’s charcoal hued Elan and four others - including the Broadspeed GTS with Matt Green up - between himself and Paul’s TVR which slipped four slots to 19th. Nybleaus, gridded alongside the twin machine of Montgomery, fell to 15th initially, then lost further places before finding his rhythm. Out after four laps was Smithies, with the Daytona clone’s engine snag unresolved.
As Chiles, Thistlethwayte, Crosthwaite and Dyson continued to lead the stampede, Sleep’s auspicious rise took him past Clark and Thompson into an impressive fifth place overall. At the back Barbara Lambert was content to pass the black and white MG B over to Brian after seven laps - the 10-minute mark enabling her husband to run two full 40-minute stints thereafter. Peter Thompson pitted after 13 circuits, reporting a pesky misfire which, after another couple of stops chasing fuel pressure issues, and Payne having a go, was retired for deeper investigation into valve springs and cam followers. Its engine is due a refresh before Spa in September. Also in at 13 laps were Drake and Jones in the Elans, having changed order, and the Dorset Racing Mini, later to expire with a dead engine.
There was high drama on lap 20 when leader Chiles essayed to lap fifth-placed Sleep at the complex. The cars clashed, scraping sides and the Cobra bucked into the air, but continued with its left wheel arches crumpled. The Shelby pulled off at Cobb with a wing stoved in onto its tyre. King’s Morgan, a lap down, conked-out on the approach to Allard moments later, and with two cars stranded close to the track at potentially dangerous places a full course caution was implemented for their retrieval. Remarkably, Sleep’s crew did not throw in the towel. Rather than deny Alex Montgomery a turn at the wheel, they bashed the panel out and the car returned to the fray many laps down.
Chiles had returned to the pits just before the interlude, whereupon Gary Spencer’s team checked the gashed snake over and sent Chris Sr out. Thistlethwayte stopped a lap later, in the yellow zone, and resumed. Cobra partner Shepherd had handed the MG B he’d started to owner Drabble, and would finish in the big banger for Alex after his double stint. Hewitson chased Montgomery - fourth after Crosthwaite handed over to Finburgh - past one-third distance, putting Rawles in to bat a lap before the GT3 leader stopped. By then Welch was in Nyblaeus’ Healey and rasping up the lap charts in time-honoured sideways style. Also on track now was Alice Locke, aboard the Broadspeed which Green had brought up to ninth before the pit stagger unwound for the first time.
The middle phase of the race was notable for Bourne bounding up the order in the little red TVR. Paul had stopped at the start of the caution period and after five laps behind the safety car Quick Rick’s contribution began in earnest. He caught and passed Drabble on lap 31 to annex the class lead, then zapped TC1 dynamo Alice as Rawles sliced his way through the smaller-engined cars in Hewitson’s Healey. Chiles Sr had four laps to suss out the Cobra before being set free, still second overall to Thistlethwayte. He ran five more laps unfettered, ceding a place to Finburgh before relaying his son at the 30-lap mark.
Finburgh took the lead when Shepherd replaced Alex - literally dragged out of the door after 33 circuits - and the lofty hardtopped Cobra blasted back ahead when Nick was replaced by Crosthwaite with under 20 minutes remaining. Eighth as he took over from his father, Chiles was on a mission meanwhile. Helped by Jason Minshaw and Ben Mitchell reinstalling Burton and Clark after typically combative mid-race charges, Junior was soon back to third and set about overhauling the Cooper Monaco, which he did on lap 51 of the 54.
The lead Cobra was always beyond reach, for young gun Murray’s pace was such that, try as he did, Chiles was working overtime to match it as they carved through constant traffic. Only able to take nibbles, rather than chunks, out of the deficit, he knew second was the best they could do. Fastest lap of 1:30.583 (93.85mph) demonstrated Junior’s early commitment to breaking his pursuers.
Shepherd was exhausted when he alighted from the winning Cobra in parc fermé: “The car was going beautifully, but it was getting hotter and hotter in the cockpit. By the end it was a case of hanging on to the wheel and staying conscious,” he said as water was poured over him.
With the surviving Cobras and the Cooper, its vitesse unaffected by a poppy misfire, all covering 54 laps, there was a grandstand finish between the trio of Jaguar Es a lap down. Of the Elans, Jones/Tinkler finished ninth, four laps up on Drake/Carlton-Smith, who were almost two minutes behind the Broadspeed which Green had whirled round in an astonishing 1:36.317 (88.95mph) - 2.4s quicker than in qualifying - early on.
Attention thus turned to the multi-car divisions. In GT3 Hewitson and Rawles had moved ahead of Montgomery following Bruce’s second mandatory stop. Unfortunately, Rawles’ marathon 27 lap final stint went unrewarded, having exceeded the 40-minute maximum at the cost of class gold. Nyblaeus and Welch wound up third in a Healey clean sweep, Jeremy having set the class best 1:34.538 (89.62mph) before Nils-Fredrik took over to finish.
Oliver Marçais had started the venerable Jaguar XX120 very briskly indeed, running third in class, but reported a clutch problem to the Classic Autos mechanics as the vastly experienced Rob Newall jumped in. They soldiered home fifth in class, behind the Richard Locke/Green Healey. Fifteenth overall, the ice blue machine finished ahead of McAlpine who broke 1:40 in the little aluminium-bodied Lotus streamliner. ‘Pangio’ duelled with Marçais in the opening laps, but pitted and turned back into the paddock with an oil leak.
Old masters Paul and Bourne remain kings of GT2. They finished an outstanding 10th, a lap clear of Shepherd/Drabble who served a brief drive through penalty. Murray clocked best lap in 1:37.334 (87.13mph). Thompson père-et-fils were out soon after the mid-way point, but the Lamberts enjoyed a reliable run. They finished a couple of tours adrift in third, albeit one ahead of the Goddard/Smith Morgan, which eagle-eyed photographers doubtless gleefully snapped in the company of King/Plant’s sister car as it put a lap on them.
Looking ahead, the penultimate stop on the GTSCC 2025 tour is the charismatic Castle Combe Autumn Classic - celebrating the old school Wiltshire circuit’s 75th anniversary season - on Saturday, September 20. And what season would be complete without a trip to Portugal? Our traditional finale takes place at the Algarve Classic Festival from October 24-26. The magnificent Autodromo do Algarve, inland from Portimao on the shimmering Atlantic Ocean, offers a unique challenge which Formula 1 enjoyed in the madness of pandemic-torn 2020-2021. Book your entries with Vanessa ASAP to avoid disappointment.
MARCUS PYE
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BALTIC Watches are proud to support the GTSCC and be part of the action during each race weekend. We'd be delighted to welcome you to our central London showroom to chat watches and racing, and show you our full collection. We're looking forward to seeing you again and are happy to offer 20% off to drivers and teams for any purchase made in our London showroom or at race events !
For any questions or special requests, please reach out to Baudouin Jager on WhatsApp (+33 7 85 80 48 73) or by e-mail (baudouin@baltic-watches.com).
GTSCC Overall & GT4 Class Winners - Alex Thistlewayte & Murray Shepherd - AC Cobra 289
2nd Overall - Chris Chiles & Chris Chiles Jr - AC Cobra 289
3rd Overall - Ollie Crosthwaite & Nick Finburgh - Cooper T49 Monaco
GT2 Class Winners - Malcolm Paul & Rick Bourne - TVR Grantura Mk III
GT3 Class Winners - Bruce Montgomery - Austin Healey 3000
SP1 Class Winners - Sir Andrew McAlpine - Lotus 11 Le Mans S2
SP2 Class Winners - Ollie Crosthwaite & Nick Finburgh - Cooper T49 Monaco
‘The Royal Automobile Club Family Award’ Winners - Brian & Barbara Lambert - MG B
Baltic Watches ‘Drivers of the Day’ - Alice Locke & Matt Green - Broadspeed GTS
GTSCC Winners Alex Thistlethwayte & Murray Shepherd, 2nd Chris Chiles & Chris Chiles Jr, 3rd Ollie Crosthwaite & Nick Finburgh
GT4 Class Podium - Winners Alex Thistlethwayte & Murray Shepherd, 2nd Chris Chiles & Chris Chiles Jr, 3rd Alistair Dyson,
represented by Mrs Dyson as Alistair was out on track!
GT3 Class Podium - Winner Bruce Montgomery, 2nd Alexander Hewitson & Jack Rawles, 3rd Nils-Fredrik Nyblaeus & Jeremy Welch
GT2 Class Podium - Winners Malcolm Paul & Rick Bourne, 2nd Simon Drabble & Murray Shepherd, 3rd Brian & Barbara Lambert
SP1 Class Podium - Winner Sir Andrew McAlpine
SP2 Class Podium - Winners Ollie Crosthwaite & Nick Finburgh
TC1 Class Podium - Winners Alice Locke & Matt Green, 2nd Ellie Birchenhough, Nick Topliss
The Royal Automobile Club Family Award, presented by Jeremy Vaughan, Head of Motoring, to Brian & Barbara Lambert, MG B
Brian was back out on track!
‘Drivers of the Day’ - Presented by Baltic Watches’ Baudouin Jager to Alice Locke & Matt Green
@balticwatches
Fabulous timepieces by Baltic Watches @balticwatches, salvers for the Overall winners and tankards for Class Winners
Photo: @shotbyiz
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE RACE WINNERS
GT2 - Malcolm Paul & Rick Bourne, TVR Grantura Mk III
GT3 - Bruce Montgomery, Austin-Healey 3000
GT4 - Alex Thistlethwayte & Murray Shepherd, AC Cobra 289
SP1 - Sir Andrew McAlpine, Lotus 11
SP2 - Ollie Crostwaite & Nick Finburgh, Cooper T49 Monaco
TC1 - Alice Locke & Matt Green, Mini Broadspeed GTS
The Royal Automobile Club Family Award
Brian & Barbara Lambert, MG B
Baltic Watches 'Drivers of the Day'
Alice Locke & Matt Green, Broadspeed GTS
GTSCC - Thruxton Retro Results Here
E-Mail - cars@automobileshistoriques.com for entries